[Kingumar]

I am thinking about upgrading my 55gal to a 90 gal. My 55 is a mixed reef and is my first tank since in this hobby. I want to go sps dominant with some lps and zoos with the upgrade.

55gal:
Live rock
Live sand
octopus hob skimmer
hob fuge
powerheads
light: 6x54w t5's "Nova extreme pro"
With these lights iv been able to keep large verity of corals and even good growth on sps.

I am looking for a 90 gal reef ready tank so i wanted to know about equipment.

is 30 gal a good size for the sump?
What kind of skimmer should i be looking for?
Do i need to upgrade the lights? Iv seen some pretty good setups with t5's but are MH's going to be better?
What about water movement what kind of powerheads? I dont want to have 5 powerheads in my tank but also dont want to spend hundreds on vortechs. any alternatives? I know sps need a lot of flow.
What power return pump should i get within a reasonable price?

I also wanted to know whats the best sand for reef's and a sps tank? for my 55gal I use "Natures ocean bio-active live sand" that you can get from petco. This sand seems to blow around a lot, a little glass cleaner movement near the sand make a cloud.

If you have any pics of 90 gal i would love to see them to get some ideas.
Thanks for reading, any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm really serious about upgrading and want to get started asap

Read more: Upgrading Questions
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[fchidsey]

is 30 gal a good size for the sump? The bigger the Better 30 is good but if you can fit a larger sump the happier you will be
What kind of skimmer should i be looking for? that is a really broad question and I have not kept up on the new skimmers I have an MRC MR2 which is about 5 years old it works well but there are bigger and badder skimmers out now Coral vue has a good line with the REEF Octopus Pinwheel Skimmers so I hear but I really don't know enough about them I know a few folks have purchased them.
Do i need to upgrade the lights? Iv seen some pretty good setups with t5's but are MH's going to be better? I would say that with SPS Metal halide lights are going to be better, that being said there are a lot of folks out there now that keep sps with t-5, I had good luck with t-5's in my 60 gallon reef but I had no sps. currently I have 2 250w MH with my 150.
What about water movement what kind of powerheads? I dont want to have 5 powerheads in my tank but also dont want to spend hundreds on vortechs. any alternatives? I know sps need a lot of flow.
It's kind of one or the other unfortunately or you can plumb a closed loop system in the tank.

What power return pump should i get within a reasonable price? try to stay in the 8 - 10 times per hour but do not calculate this into your tank turn over rate with the power heads.

I also wanted to know whats the best sand for reef's and a sps tank? for my 55gal I use "Natures ocean bio-active live sand" that you can get from petco. This sand seems to blow around a lot, a little glass cleaner movement near the sand make a cloud. Sand is Sand and will be live sand after a while just make sure it is a calcium based sand not silica based sand.

the test is calcium based sand will dissolve and bubble when introduced to vinegar. silica based sand will not.

Read more: Upgrading Questions
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I hope that helps some.

Fred

PS look at peoples build thread do a search for 90 gallon build threads and go from there. I would also look at large build threads too there is a lot of information and ideas to be had when you read others threads.

 

[Kingumar]

ty for you input, got a lot og info.

anyone else?

not a lot of people on here have experience with 90 gals?

 

[fchidsey]

There are lots of folks here with 90 plus gallons I guess just none of them sharing

 

[Kingumar]

thats sad. haha interesting forum.

 

[fchidsey]

I'll bump you back up the week end is sometimes not a good time to get answers.